United States Senate election in North Carolina, 2026 (March 3 Democratic primary)
 |
U.S. Senate • U.S. House • State Senate • State House • Supreme court • Appellate courts • State ballot measures • School boards • Municipal • All local elections by county • How to run for office |
 |
|
← 2022
|
| U.S. Senate, North Carolina |
|---|
 |
| Democratic primary Republican primary General election |
| Election details |
| Filing deadline: December 19, 2025 |
| Primary: March 3, 2026 Primary runoff: May 12, 2026 General: November 3, 2026 |
| How to vote |
| Poll times:
6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. |
| Race ratings |
DDHQ and The Hill: Pending Inside Elections: Toss-up Sabato's Crystal Ball: Toss-up |
| Ballotpedia analysis |
| U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2026 |
| See also |
U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th • 8th • 9th • 10th • 11th • 12th • 13th • 14th North Carolina elections, 2026 U.S. Congress elections, 2026 U.S. Senate elections, 2026 U.S. House elections, 2026 |
A Democratic Party primary took place on March 3, 2026, in North Carolina to determine which Democratic candidate would run in the state's general election on November 3, 2026.
Roy Cooper advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate North Carolina.
| Candidate filing deadline | Primary election | General election |
|---|---|---|
Heading into the election, the incumbent is Thom Tillis (Republican), who was first elected in 2014.
A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. North Carolina utilizes a semi-closed primary system. Parties decide who may vote in their respective primaries. Voters may choose a primary ballot without impacting their unaffiliated status.[1]
For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.
Thirty-three of the 100 U.S. Senate seats are up for election, and another two seats are up for special election. Democrats hold 13 of the seats up for election, and Republicans hold 22. As of January 2026, 11 members of the U.S. Senate announced they are not running for re-election. To read more about the U.S. Senate elections taking place this year, click here.
This is one of 10 open U.S. Senate races this year in which an incumbent is not running for re-election. Across the country, four Democrats and six Republicans are not running for re-election — more than any year since 2012. In 2024, eight incumbents — four Democrats, two Republicans, and two independents — did not seek re-election.
This page focuses on North Carolina's United States Senate Democratic primary. For more in-depth information on the state's Republican primary and the general election, see the following pages:
- United States Senate election in North Carolina, 2026 (March 3 Republican primary)
- United States Senate election in North Carolina, 2026
Candidates and election results
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. Senate North Carolina
The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate North Carolina on March 3, 2026.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Roy Cooper | 92.0 | 758,743 |
 | Justin Dues | 2.7 | 22,169 | |
 | Marcus Williams | 2.4 | 20,189 | |
 | Daryl Farrow | 1.2 | 9,677 | |
 | Orrick Quick | 0.9 | 7,221 | |
 | Robert Colon | 0.8 | 6,741 | |
| Total votes: 824,740 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Wiley Nickel (D)
- Alyssia Hammond (D)
Candidate profiles
There were no candidate profiles created for this race. Candidate profiles would have appeared here as candidates completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.
Voting information
- See also: Voting in North Carolina
Campaign finance
| Name | Party | Receipts* | Disbursements** | Cash on hand | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Robert Colon | Democratic Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Roy Cooper | Democratic Party | $21,070,824 | $6,842,849 | $14,227,974 | As of February 11, 2026 |
| Justin Dues | Democratic Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Daryl Farrow | Democratic Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Orrick Quick | Democratic Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Marcus Williams | Democratic Party | $5,656 | $5,656 | $0 | As of March 17, 2026 |
|
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," . This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." |
|||||
Ballot access
The table below details filing requirements for U.S. Senate candidates in North Carolina in the 2026 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in North Carolina, click here.
| Filing requirements for U.S. Senate candidates, 2026 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Office | Party | Signatures required | Filing fee | Filing deadline | Source |
| North Carolina | U.S. Senate | Ballot-qualified party | 10,000 | $1,740.00 | 12/19/2025 | Source |
| North Carolina | U.S. Senate | Unaffiliated | 1.5% of all registered N.C. voters who voted in the most recent election for N.C. Governor | $1,740.00 | 12/19/2025 | Source |
See also
- United States Senate election in North Carolina, 2026 (March 3 Republican primary)
- United States Senate election in North Carolina, 2026
- United States Senate Democratic Party primaries, 2026
- United States Senate Republican Party primaries, 2026
- United States Senate elections, 2026
- U.S. Senate battlegrounds, 2026
External links
Footnotes
